The Penn women's club ice hockey team finished in second place in the Delaware Valley Collegiate Hockey Conference this season.
While most people on campus probably weren't paying attention to the Quakers' games over the last few months, their success has come at a convenient time for those interested in Penn's continuing efforts to comply with Title IX, which mandates gender equity in education -- especially in athletics.
There are three ways for a school to be compliant with Title IX.
A school can have a proportion of male-to-female athletes that is within three percent of the gender ratio of the entire student body.
Universities can also show that they have satisfied any unmet interest in varsity athletics. It can be hard to prove this, however, if there is a successful club sports program without a varsity counterpart.
Therefore, most schools remain Title IX compliant by showing a continuing dedication to achieving true gender equity.
This could require Penn to add a women's varsity sport in the future. According to women's club hockey captain Zoe Harris, the progress her team has made over the last few years makes them a prime candidate for such a "promotion."
"I can definitely see us in a few more years being varsity," the senior left wing said. "A lot of girls coming in now have played in high school and have played competitive hockey before, whereas my freshman year I was the only one who had played in high school."
She said that when the team traveled to nationals recently, the tournament's director told her that "in four years our team is going to be a team that can come in and be right up there with teams that are recruiting their players," something which Penn does not do because of a lack of funding.
"We had to, like, beg for money to go to nationals this year," Harris said.
At the same time Harris admits to enjoying not having to deal with the heavy demands on one's schedule which a varsity team would entail.
"I have such mixed feelings about it," she said. "It's been just the right amount of time for me. My brother played varsity squash at Brown and it just took over his life."
Women's golf was the last varsity sport added by Penn. The team is currently playing its fifth spring season.
Penn Athletic Director Steve Bilsky would not comment on the possibility of adding another team. However, Director of Athletic Communications Carla Zighelboim said in a statement that "the sports club programs at Penn are a very important part of the overall athletic experience so we're very happy when one of our teams does well as the women's ice hockey club did this year."
Brigit Lawrence-Gomez, a goalkeeper for the women's club water polo team, acknowledged this support as an important element in the thriving Penn club sports scene.
"I know that relative to some other schools, Penn is very supportive of its club teams in particular," she said, although she admitted that "we do have difficulties getting pool time because we are a club team, which can be very frustrating at times."
Like Harris, Lawrence-Gomez has mixed emotions about wanting her team to be raised to varsity status.
"The level of play of our team is such that I think some of the girls could move up and play at the varsity level," she said. "But at the same time, as a club team, we are able to be open to everyone and give girls a chance to play that have never played before."
